3/15/2021 Care work: a feminist system change – Learning to write

Learning to write

Politics, life and the planet

MARCH 10, 2021

VIRAG
KAUFER

Care work: a feminist system change

For International Women Rights Day here is an offer to radically rethink who and what we value

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IWD is always an opportunity to take stock of how far we got with gender equality. Many would
think that it has been achieved in Europe: women can vote, work and take control of their bodies in
most European countries. That statement can easily be contested, even if it might be true about the
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Care work: a feminist

majority of white women in Europe, because women of color and trans women clearly have a
different level of freedom and equality even in Europe. With the recognition that there is a lot to do to
achieve intersectional justice, this post is taking a different direction, and wants to look at the
fundamentals of our system, from a feminist point of view. What would it mean for our daily lives
and our social and economic network in Europe, if we, for once took feminism seriously?

The pandemic in the context of the climate crisis had reminded us of an important yet obvious
statement from the eco feminist economist Mary Mellor:

We are creatures in a body and our body is in the environment.

A body needs care, and the environment needs care. The word ´care ´is usually associated with
women´s activities and care work is usually performed by women. ( in Europe, increasingly women with
migrant backgrounds.) Mellor develops the concept of body work which is effectively essential work,
caring for others, and the availability and responsibility that it entails, including its unpredictability
and li le monetary value. Then there is of course, economic activity, that ´drives´ the economy and
brings profit and is usually associated with men. She further states that the economy as understood
in a capitalist system is carved out of human existence in nature.

If the multi layered crisis we live in is stemming from this divide, then it is a crisis of care. If anyone is
still in doubt about that, please read the post-Covid analysis from Petra de Su er
(h ps://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/looking-to-the-future-public-health-and-a-green-recovery/),
deputy prime minister of Belgium. We undervalue, dismiss and exploit nature and those who care
for us and we see where this false and unjust approach leads us to. If we were serious about ge ing
out of this crisis, then we would overhaul our current economic and social model and reorganize it
with a feminist approach to centre around body work, instead of economic work. An inspiring piece
of work is offering a bold vision on that by the Care Collective:
(h ps://www.versobooks.com/authors/2499-the-care-collective)A perfect offering for IWD in 2021, a
radical rethink to rebuild Europe, from ground zero to resilience.

The Care Manifesto (h ps://www.versobooks.com/books/3706-care-manifesto), published in 2020,

starts by saying that we have to recognize our mutual interdependence on nature and on each other.
Let’s not fool ourselves, this is the exact opposite of neoliberalism, which is built on the concept of
hyper individualism, and commodified self care. The concept of `Universal care` starts where Mellor
left it: the recognition of the fragility, frailty and challenging nature of body work, all the aspects of
humans and nature that disgust us, and how much these relationships and the act of care creates and
reinforced inequalities.

Once the complex, intersectional and radical notion of Promiscuous Care, is established:

If care is to become a basis for a be er society and world, we need to change our contemporary hierarchies of
care in the direction of radical egalitarianism.

All forms of care between all categories of human and non human should be valued, recognized and
resourced equally, according to their need for ongoing sustainability. This is what we call the ethics of
promiscuous care.
The Manifesto explores in what way communities, societies, politics and the economy could invest in
supporting that act of care. The solutions start by redefining the family and kinships, and moves on to
the micro community, before it discusses the role of the state, politics and the economy. A serious
restrictions on the power and reach of capitalist markets, and the utmost priority of the forces of care

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3/15/2021 Care work: a feminist system change – Learning to write

and compassion over the forces of the market are necessary. Policy frameworks build on best
practices and progress achieved so far, but filters everything through the concept of promiscuous
care. Here is an example:

The Manifesto also offers a new approach to global collaboration, built on mutual interdependence,
sharing resources, while embracing a democratic cosmopolitanism. It`s concrete manifestation could
be a collective role out of a Global Green Deal, one version of this can be read here
(h ps://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/21446383/noam-chomsky-robert-pollin-climate-
change-book-green-new-deal). And the circle closes: we started by rethinking kinships and families
and we end with applying that to the global community of humans to create the right platform for a
caring world order.

How does this truly inspiring and idealist manifesto relate to the quest of searching for a way out in
Europe? A recovery that aims to create a truly feminist, caring Europe, would lead by example, and
would have a huge impact on other parts of the world, which are currently suffocating under the
forces of capitalist market logic. Going back to Mellor, a concrete task emerges for the EU right now:

What the Green New Deal has to do is integrate work and life, taking into account both ecological time ( the
time it takes of nature to regenerate) and biological time ( the birth-death life cycle of the body) If the Green
New Deal doesn’t integrate work and life in this very concrete way, I don’t think it will overcome the care
question.

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